


out of the mist (your voice is calling)

by SNES



Category: Devilman (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Dancing, M/M, The Platters, slightly OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 20:33:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15781596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SNES/pseuds/SNES
Summary: Ryo and Akira slow-dance to The Platters.





	out of the mist (your voice is calling)

 

It only happens in the night, when the city is still bright and cold and hazy and Akira is in Ryo's apartment.

Even when he's lying alone on the pristine white sheets of the blonde boy's bed, he can tell something's shifted. There's a faint noise, mechanically piercing. Akira grows enticed.

_Music_. The last thing he thought he'd hear. And it was old. It was mellow, raw, calm in its funk. (And, in many ways, all the things he thought he'd already known about Ryo Asuka.)

Ryo plays music some nights, always somehow different. They were all old songs and Akira's managed to listen through them while pretending to be asleep most nights when he comes to visit, but it was only now that Akira decided to ask about it.

Of course, he sits up from the bed, groggy, and leads his own way to Ryo. It's more than an action he commands his body to do. It's _programmed_. He knows very well that he's not forcing his body to do anything.

Standing oddly still by the gigantic window, his face illuminated by what's left of the busy city lights was Ryo, looking strangely serene. Akira takes the sight in.

"What music is that?" He asks, genuinely curious. Ryo turns to face him, a little shocked. Akira wasn't sure he could tell.

" _The Platters_ , Akira."

"Never heard of them," He comments.

"Well." He hums, facing away. "I don't expect you to know, really."

He manages a "yeah" before he stares out the window, surveying the streets from the best viewing spot in the whole city. He gazes at Ryo, who was now slumping his side on the glass window, looking incredibly miserable in his attempt to not look like he was.

"This song's familiar." Ryo comments, his eyes lighting up, but only just a little. His head tilts around every once in a while.

Akira gulps. "I didn't know you liked that."

"I don't." He coughs. "I mean, it is a little odd."

He approaches him as meekly as possible, making sure to keep a safe distance. "Why?"

"It wasn't my idea." He shrugs. "Or maybe it was... they say it helps. I don't exactly know what needs helping."

"Hey--"

"I didn't mean for you to wake up. Go back to sleep, Akira."

"I don't want to." He says. "Kind of. Not anymore."

Ryo looks back at him, a blank stare on his face, then looks away again. "Suit yourself."

And so he does. He sits down on the sofa, lingering in the melody. He closes his eyes to pick up on the song, but there's nothing else he can hear but the words _only you_. It spins in his head like a litany of truth, rolls around his tongue like a taste so familiar.

But he swallows it back.

Instead, he asks: "How does this help, exactly?"

"It makes me-- I don't know. It makes me feel... _something_." Ryo is raw in his admittance, like his confusion was the truest thing he's ever said in a while, if not in his whole lifetime.

"Like what?" The song switches in the background, the track name on Ryo's laptop _Heaven on Earth_.

"If I could explain it, I would, Akira. You know how these things are." How out of touch is Ryo with his emotions, exactly? Akira wants to help, in the same way these songs _help_ in their own undefined way.

He stands up again, walks even closer to Ryo this time. The blonde peeks at him, perplexed, but not until Akira holds out his hand. His eyes narrow at the realization.

"I don't dance," is all he says. It was all so expected, but Akira tries again, anyway.

"Just this song," he pleads. "You can kick me out of your apartment after this or whatever. Just let me have this one dance."

"How would this benefit you, exactly?" He sneers. "What, you trigger your demon form whenever you dance with someone, now?"

"Don't be a killjoy. I'm not the guy playing old songs over their laptop and staring out their window like some lame sentimental middle-aged hippie."

"What is your problem with me?"

He slides his hand on Ryo's waist and grabs Ryo's hand with the other one. "Just dance."

It's awkward, a little forced on both ends. But they try to make it work. At least, Akira does. Ryo is practically brain-dead at this point, but he shifts his feet ever so gently, trying to show Akira even the least bit of interest he can manage. They move to a different beat, making up words in their minds that they know will never go beyond it. Things like _this is beautiful. You're so beautiful. I love it when we do this. I love you_. Nobody says a word.

Then, another song plays, and then another. And then another. Then another.

They start slow at _Twilight Time_ , then pack up their pace a little with _I Love You a Thousand Times_. Akira feels a slow burn in his eyes with _I'm Sorry_ , and, just a little, the tears start dropping when _Alone in the Night_ starts to play.

"Why are you crying?" Ryo asks, grasp tightening around Akira's shoulders.

Akira just shrugs, and Ryo doesn't ask any further. Unlike Akira, the blonde can always take "I don't know" for an answer.

A little bit further into _The Magic Touch_ and Akira starts grinning at himself, the tears all dry now, much to Ryo's puzzled expression. "I get it." He says, feeling the beat of Ryo's heart against his chest. "This makes you feel... real." He grins again. " _Human_."

Ryo stares at him, his eyes dead. "I don't understand your point." But Akira doesn't care. He's stopped doing that a long time ago. He just keeps moving his body, moving and moving until reality doesn't seem all that real anymore.

He lets himself leave Earth for a while, imagines he's transported into another universe where dancing with Ryo like this didn't come at anyone's expense, where they were just two boys swaying their bodies to some old melody. But then he goes back to seeing it the way it was, and it didn't feel right. He knows it would never. But it didn't feel so wrong, either.

(Because there are moments when the whole world turns on them, but Akira Fudo, like this, _just like this_ , knows he wouldn't want to have it any other way.)

**Author's Note:**

> i should be studying 4 midterms but instead i made this straight-up self indulgent ooc fic.. but hey
> 
> first work in this fandom! comments and kudos are much appreciated!!!!! as always @lyn_6oc on twt
> 
> title is from twilight time by the platters


End file.
